Monday, April 25, 2011

Greek Chopped Salad

{Meatless Monday}

This is a recipe that I have had FOREVER on a torn out magazine page from Family Circle.  It has been at least 2 years since I even had a subscription to that magazine!  I am so glad I finally decided to try it.  It is a lovely, simple, fresh salad for this coming summertime.

Here's what you'll need:

For the dressing:
3 T lemon juice
2 T chopped red onion
3 tsp. chopped oregano
1 minced garlic clove
1/8 tsp EACH sugar, salt, and pepper

Whisk all together and then slowly whisk in 4 T olive oil.


For the salad:
2 hearts (or 1 whole) romaine, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 med. cucumber, cut into 1/2 " pieces
2 cups diced tomatoes (or quartered cherry tomatoes)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1/3 c. chopped kalamata olives
4-5 oz. feta


Toss together in large bowl and mix with dressing JUST before serving.  The recipe says this only makes 4 servings, but it made more like 6-8.  I actually only mixed half the dressing with half the salad for the first night, and then we had the rest the next day...and it was still fresh.  It wilts really quickly, so only put the dressing on the amount you know you will eat right then.




The Kalamata olives are very strong (which I love) but very expensive (which I don't love!), so you could use regular black olives and it would still be yummy.  When I pointed out to my hubby that he better enjoy those Kalamata olives because they were very expensive, he offered a solution:  he said I could save money by not buying the chickpeas.  ; )  He is not a fan of them, but they are the protein source (along with the feta) in this salad.  If you don't like chickpeas, I am sure you could substitute any small white bean and it would work.
I am almost always too cheap to buy cherry or grape tomatoes, so I just dice up a couple roma tomatoes to substitute.  We ate this as our main dish with some toasted English Muffins on the side.  (And in the spirit of complete disclosure...only my husband, myself, and my 13 year old ate this salad for dinner.  The other kids had egg McMuffins.... ; )  It seemed like a good compromise and it left all the yummy salad to those of us who appreciated it!

2 comments:

  1. YUM! these olives come with free shipping when you subscribe and save (choose 1 every 6 months, then you can cancel auto-ship later). i think they are cheaper than at the store and they ship right to you!

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MBP1G0/ref=rcx_subs_dp

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  2. oops! ^ that was me ^

    Kristen

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